Being in balance is vital to a healthy school environment and may make schools more productive. However, being in balance is hard to define. It may be easier to start by identifying what "out" of balance looks like. All administrators have had days when they have felt that their efforts were for naught. The phone keeps ringing, the parents are…

Too many parents of children with special healthcare needs come upon dental care for their child out of necessity or urgency. In order to make the relationship most beneficial, the preferred way is to establish a Dental Home during the child's infancy. The Dental Home is the oral health corollary of the Medical Home concept that the American…

Objective: Much research has been done to examine the long-term effects of being victimized by sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse in childhood, but much less research has focused on the impact of childhood neglect experiences. This study examines the role that childhood neglect has on adult women's involvement in HIV-related risky behaviors.…

Substance use is a major cause of adolescent morbidity and mortality. By age 14, 70% of adolescents have consumed alcohol and half of 12th graders report having used marijuana. The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of parent and adolescent perceptions regarding adolescent use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) to…

The present study investigated how maternal HIV and mediating family processes are associated with adolescent distress, substance use, and risky sexual behavior. Mother-adolescent (ages 12-21) dyads (N = 264) were recruited from neighborhoods where the HIV-affected families resided (161 had mothers with HIV). Mediating family processes were youth…

Background: To achieve high participation rates and a representative sample, active parent consent procedures require a significant investment of study resources. The purpose of this article is to describe processes and outcomes of utilizing active parent consent procedures with sixth-grade students from urban, ethnically diverse, economically…

Health promoting behaviors have become increasingly important as Americans attempt to retain their youth and health. This study collected self-reported data from 559 participants in the Southwest United States using the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II to compare the health promoting behaviors of older adults (60-92 years), middle-aged adults…

Early coital debut is a risk factor for HIV. In this paper we investigate the predictors of young adolescents' transition to first intercourse using a social cognition theoretical framework. The analyses reported here were based on a longitudinal study of 2360 students in the schools allocated to the control arm of a cluster-randomized controlled…

This article presents preliminary findings of a randomized HIV prevention study in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. The study centers on a family HIV workshop aimed at strengthening parenting skills that are empirically linked to reducing adolescent HIV exposure and other sexual risks. These skills include parental monitoring; educating youth…

This study explored perceptions, needs, and barriers of sub-Saharan African migrants in relation to HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT). Using an inductive qualitative methodological approach, data were obtained from focus group discussions. Results showed that participants were in principle in favor of VCT. However, they indicated that…

The primary purpose of this mixed-methods study was two-fold: first, to assess diabetes knowledge, attitudes, disease management and self efficacy among a sample of Mexican American (MA) and Mexican-Native (MN) adults living in North Texas; and second, to determine factors which promote or deter diabetes prevention and management using…

Background: Rates of overweight in youth have increased at an alarming rate, particularly in minority youth, and depressive symptoms may affect the ability of youth to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors to manage weight and reduce their risk for health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between depressive…

Studies at the individual level have shown a negative effect of education and intelligence on risky behavior. The same has been demonstrated for risky sexual behavior and for HIV-infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa. In path analyses at the country data level, cognitive abilities (seen as depending on education) show a strong negative effect on…

Using the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance data (n = 13,917) of high school students, we examined the association between four domains of risk factors (alcohol/drug use, aggression, HIV risk-related behaviors, and health problems) and indicators of suicidality (considering a suicide attempt, making a plan to attempt suicide, and actually…

Purpose: Research suggests that men and women often differ in knowledge and beliefs about causes and treatments of a variety of diseases. This study examines gender differences in views about cognitive health and behaviors that have been associated with its maintenance, focusing on older adults living in rural areas. Design and Methods: We…